Finally flipped my 14

Saturday I had a really great day sailing my 14 (no jib). The lake is at 8600 feet and was blowing from just under white caps to some pretty filled in caps and swell.

Early in the day, I was messing with the adjustable downhaul going slow and a big gust hit and the boat went over. This is the frist time Ive gone over in probably 20 sailing sesions. If I hadnt been "sleeping", I probably could have sailed the gust - but I went on over. I weigh just under 200 lbs and have a bob at the end of the mast and was standing on one hull and could steer the boat and tried to angle the sail into the wind in a few different ways but I just could not get the boat to come over and ended up drifting into shore where I then fixed things.

http://www.hobiecat.com/support/tech/righting.html From reading this, it looks like I had two things wrong. First, I didnt uncleat the main sheet once the boat was over on its side. Second is that the previous owner had a righting line on the boat that was tied to the stays from the underside of the platform. So when I tried to use the righting line, the rope came from inside the hull and it just didnt give very good leverage. What I gather from the web site is that the righting line should go from the frame stay attachment and then on the outside of the hull so that you get the max leverage for pulling the boat over. But.. this means that I would manually have to put the rope over the top of the hull and then attach it to the frame/stay point. - when in the tipped position. Is this correct?

Once I got the boat over and changed the righting line somewhat, I went back out sailing (I was wearing a dry suit so didnt get cold) and had just one heck of an intense sailing day just hauling ass! I almost flipped again on a screaming reach from my lee hull submarining on a big chunk of chop but thankfully I recovered from that one.

I see a very recent discussion here (lines under the tramp) on righting with some good advice.

One thing mentioned was the Hawian righting system and a google of this is here:

http://www.catsailor.com/pole-install.html

This would have been way better than what is currently on my boat but if my problem was mostly from not uncleating the sheet, maybe its an overkill for a 14?

I can tell you that I will now be ordering a baby bob before I take another Hobie 14 out, period. I could not get my boat upright from turtle, with powerboat assistance and a second person in the water. Yes, my mast is leaking, but only at one spot (a cleat rivet), and I had powerboat assistance withing 5 mintues of capsizing. I will say that once out of turtle, I have never had problems flipping her back up (hence the reason I am getting a bob). Getting the f'ing thing out of turtle is ridiculously hard. And when I capsize, the thing is normally instantly turtle because the past two capsizes have been in heavy air, trapped out and BAM pitchpole. Because of the difficulty of righting a hobie 14, which I have done multiple times in the past, my Hobie 14 is now boomless, sail less (well, one sail less, I need new battens for the other one), has a ripped trampoline and needs a new pulley for the top of the mast. Long story short: don't get caught in fish nets upside down, make sure your mast is 110% waterproof, and think about getting a better righting system.

I was thinking about my H14, it was a pain to right. I dont have a comp tip so I was thinking of tapping a very small hole near the top of the mast and simply filling it with expanding foam (slowly, one layre at a time to keep it from damaging the mast).

14's are a PITA to right.

Unless your mast leaks - foam is more dense than air - filling it with foam would make it much HARDER to right, not easier! If your mast leaks...fix the leaks. Or get a masthead bob, as stated.

_________________
Tim
Unofficial Fleet 72 Communications Officer and Div 4 Webmaster
http://www.hobiefleet72.org
http://www.div4.hobieclass.com/

I doubt many of you have had the pleasure of removing both ends of a H14 mast. They are sealed "internally"; i.e the masthead sheave and mast base do not seal the mast AT ALL, silicon+insert/plugs below the sheave and mast base seal the mast. Chances are these seals are intact, as mine are intact and my mast has been through 30 years of weather and other pains (like spending the night in the chesapeake in rough weather with no masthead sheave). Thus, the only leak points are the cleat rivets (in my case), where the comptip joins the aluminum on comptip masts, and if the mast itself is cracked. It shouldn't be too hard to seal the mast. I recommend getting a bob though, especially after what I have been through.

I was hoping that anyone who has a righting setup for a 14 that they have used and like would describe the setup and how they used it. I dont think all righting setups are all created equal.

Im thinking about adding a carbon pole (just happen to have one that Ive been holding onto for about 5 years) and doing something similar but a little less complicated than the Hawian system (see earlier link).

The 14 is easy to right from turtle. But.... you need booties. Uncleat the main first. You need to stand on the deck lips on the downwind stern, holding the rightling line to lean back and for balance. Bounce a bit and the boat will come up on its side.

Any boat with a mast leak cannot be righted. Danger Will Robinson...

The 16 and the 14 do not sit in righting position when on their side. You need to sink the bow to rotate the boat so wind flows under the mast and helps to lift the sail. Then get on the righting line and pop it up. If it doesn't work repeat the whole process.

I have had Hawaian and snap back righting lines and they are a pain to pull out. A simple thick line that you throw over the hull is the cheapest, easist and works the best. New hobies come with one these days.

cheers
Bill
84 H14
84 H14 current project boat
88 H17
04 H16

Thanks for the replys.

Im thinking now a single thick rope with clips on either end. When not in use, I would clip both ends of the rope onto the bottom tramp somehow and use a bungy to keep in tight so its not dragging in the water.

When I flip (and I have the BOB which last time worked well), I would unhook the rope, throw one end over the hull and clip the two ends together forming a loop around the hull. The loop could be slid back and forth on the hull. This would give me much better leverage than the configuration I had trouble with..

My past history says I wont use it very often and this sounds fairly simple..

so i know this is slightly older but here's my two cents:

i have flipped my 14 four times now, and I never personally ponied up the cash for the bob, soo it was just based on hope that i could do it fast enough.

my mast is about 95% waterproof, and I think that is one of the most essential things, as was stated earlier. I weigh 190#, and whenever it pitchpoles or just kind of rolls over, I double check that my main sheet is uncleated (i never really cleat it anyway, so its usually okay), and then I jump to the hull, hang a little bit on the righing line while putting weight on the "submerged" stern, use the other foot to kick water and rotate the mast to the right angle from the wind, and then i just walk up the hull a little more, lean back, and it comes right over.

maybe im just really lucky, maybe the mast does make a big difference, and maybe I'm just ultra scared of turtling so i go as fast as humanly possible, but i actually do not have any scary stories of capsizes. knock on wood.

_________________
Peter Scranton
'14 Tandem Island "Awesome"
'03 Windrider Rave "Menage a Trois"